President Dr. Irfaan Ali
“If you don’t have resources you have to manage for the best outcome and if you have resources you have to manage sustainably… the common factor is management and people decide what is good management,” Dr. Ali said when asked about his plans to avoid the resource curse.
Dr. Ali admittedly noted that the country’s aged and dilapidated public infrastructure needed transforming and modernisation but said it would not be done fancifully.
“When you have a lot of resources you get excited and want to build 10 highways when the country only needs three… it’s about striking the balance and defining financing priorities as a matter of preference.
“I go to many forums and they say, ‘oh you’re from Guyana, the new rich kid on the block’… I say, ‘No, no. I’m from Guyana the humble country that is poor and looking for concessional financing’,” Dr. Ali said.
He then doubled back to make the point that to tackle the resource curse, those entrusted with the management of the resource must stay in tune with reality.
He said people must not change who they are to spend what they don’t have to rack up debt in an unsustainable way while counting on revenues that they have not seen yet.
“That’s the curse!” he said.
But Guyana is trying to steer away from that.
“It is building capacity and systems and structures of management and governance to ensure you avoid those pitfalls.
“That is how this process is evolving,” he added.
The Guyanese Head of State talked up the independence of the natural resource fund, disclosures of oil revenue and penalties for non-disclosure, the independent investment committee and legislative oversight.
He said the system is being built to ensure people’s participation.
